Talk:Fumaria officinalis

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"The "smoky" or "fumy" origin of its name is uncertain." - Here is a quote from Grieve, Maude 1978. A Modern Herbal (Volume 1, A-H). Dover, explaining the origin of the name:

"The name is said to be derived either from the fact that its whitish, blue-green colour gives it the appearance of smoke rising from the ground, or, according to Pliny, because the juice of the plant brings on such a flow of tears that the sight becomes dim as with smoke, and hence its reputed use in affections of the eye. According to the ancient exorcists, when the plant is burned, its smoke has the power of expelling evil spirits, it having been used for this purpose in the famous geometrical gardens of St. Gall. There is a legend that the plant was produced, not from seed, but from vapours arising out of the earth."

--Tielk (talk) 17:49, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

According to sv.wp is the name due to the smell of the root which is supposed to be unpleasant but sv.wp has no source to back it up. - Averater (talk) 20:17, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

Howard - 1987

Regardless of what "Howard" said in 1987, all herbs have been used by every society in mankind as an integral part of life - cooking, healing, aromatics uses, craftsmanship properties, for close to 8000 years. Herbs were never a separate category of food until patented pills & potions came along in the latter 1800s & a division between food & "medicine" was born Isobel Chaveh (talk) 20:21, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

'a' or 'an'

This being a European not North American plant, shouldn't it be "… a herbaceous …" (British English) rather than the USian "… an herbaceous …". We pronounce the "h" this side of the pond.? Roger Bunting (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 12:22, 19 May 2017 (UTC)

This Australian looks more to what became the King's English the day before yesterday. LOL: "flowers appear from April to October in the northern hemisphere,[2] or May to September in the UK.[" The UK and Europe is not always the same in common parlance, but now they seem to have moved her out of the northern hemisphere even. Somewhere, I think, they refer to a Reader's Digest book - it's all drifting apart. 2001:8003:A070:7F00:DC13:526E:FA97:3E02 (talk) 05:19, 12 September 2022 (UTC)